Oral boards

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pillowface

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Any recommendations for how to study for oral boards? All of us co-residents are quite far away from each other so practicing that way isn't really an option. Thanks.

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I bought some oral review books to review. They were sort of helpful for the type of questions you can get asked. But the most helpful thing was asking a senior partner to go over cases with me. I had them play the role of board examiner, and that helped me get more comfortable with formulating my thoughts out loud.

You most likely don’t need to do much general studying, though if you’re like me and did a fellowship there may be some areas to refresh. The bigger thing is getting comfortable with the test format. Have your examiner question you with a poker face. And time your cases so you can practice being concise with your answers.

Most people pass the test. But it is a very different oral test than most-watch the ABPM&R vignettes to get an idea. They even show the applicant trying to get a little verification from the examiner and the examiner just stares at her (the female examinee, in my opinion, does a phenomenal job, and you should try to emulate her-professional, thorough, thinks out loud/states her reasoning. The male examinee in the second vignette, if I recall, was rather fidgety/unconfident and maybe skipped some things. But he probably would’ve passed too.
 
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